New York PR counselor Richard Torrenzano and First Amendment attorney Floyd Abrams tackled the News Corp. hacking scandal in a Bloomberg TV appearance July 19, weighing in on the media giant's reputation and what it faces in the coming days.

Abrams, who talked about the company's U.S. properties and the scandal's potential effect on those units, said caution should be taken to protect the freedom of the press while "rightly criticizing and, indeed, denoucing the abuses."

Torrenzano, who sees the story shifting more to the U.S. after the parliamentary hearings this week, added: "We all have to take a step back and we all have to ask ourselves 'why is this important?' I think it's important for one reason -- it goes to the core of our democracy."